


Goblet

by KayeFi



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-26
Updated: 2012-05-26
Packaged: 2017-11-06 01:53:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/413423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KayeFi/pseuds/KayeFi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur throws things when he gets angry. Merlin makes him angry. Unfortunately, Arthur's aim is very good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goblet

Merlin walked away, Arthur's linens in hand, satisfied at having ruffled the Prince. He vaguely registered the aggravated growl that followed his going, and he really should have been expecting the sharp pain of impact at the base of his skull. Merlin's arms went limp as his consciousness drained, his vision slowly blackening.

Arthur stared intently at Merlin's back, his arm still raised from throwing the goblet at Merlin's head. The intensity of his glare turned to further offense when Merlin dropped the linens on the very, very dusty, neglected floor. He saw that Merlin hadn't thrown the linens down though, and his arms now lay limply at his sides.

"Merlin," Arthur called out, getting out of bed just as Merlin fell to his knees with an unhealthy thunk before falling forward to the stone floor.

"Merlin?!" Arthur urged, surprised partly by what had just happened, but mostly by the disgusting amount of worry that bled into his voice. He bent down and pulled Merlin back up to his knees. Arthur shook him, naively hoping that being in an upright position would make Merlin open his eyes. It didn't. _Oh God, I killed him_ , Arthur thought, heart racing. He laid Merlin back down gently, maybe carding his thumb through Merlin's hair once. He looked peaceful, like he was sleeping, which, in Arthur's experience, was a bad thing. With trepidation, Arthur pressed a shaky hand below Merlin's jaw. The pulse came immediately. Arthur jumped up and huffed out a relieved sigh. He quickly ran a hand through his hair before he looked back down at Merlin. The boy was still lying unconscious on the cold, stone floor, gangly limbs sprawled about gracelessly.

Arthur knew he had to carry Merlin to Gaius' as quickly as he could. He wasn't even sure whether or not Merlin was bleeding, and the boy's face had paled considerably. Even his ridiculously sized ears had lost their warm pink, which Arthur had grown all too accustomed to.

Arthur walked briskly to the wardrobe where he unhandily pulled on a shirt. He had only just stopped himself from jogging to the wardrobe, only to have the jog catch him off guard as he rushed back to Merlin's side. Arthur pulled Merlin up roughly by the arms, skillfully carrying him onto his shoulders in one swift movement. Merlin was too light, but Arthur pushed that thought out of his head, unsure as to why he'd cared to have thought it in the first place.

Being early in the morning, Arthur hadn't seen many people in the corridors of the castle, and those he had seen, all servants, got directly out of his way. If there'd been a guard Arthur would've been hard pressed to come up with a reason not to let him carry Merlin to Gaius' room that would satisfy either the guard or himself. Being worried that the guard would be too rough, or wouldn't get to Gaius' quick enough certainly wouldn't have worked.

"Gaius!" Arthur called from outside the old physician's chambers after he'd tried to open the door himself. He'd felt Merlin slip, however, and had had to grab his legs. The door opened slowly.

"Yes, Sire?" Gaius began before looking up from his satchel. His face flooded with shock and concern.

"Mer-" Gaius started

"I'm sorry," Arthur interrupted, without knowing why he'd apologized. "Merlin's hurt, he needs medical attention."

"Please, come in, Sire, place him on the bed over there." Gaius motioned with frenzied hand into his chambers and rushed to take off his satchel and drop it on his workbench while Arthur carefully laid Merlin down on the cot near the back of the room. If Gaius noticed Arthur lean down to take Merlin's hand that dangled over the edge of the cot and place it gently on Merlin's chest, he didn't say anything.

"How badly is he hurt? What happened?" Gaius demanded, checking Merlin's pulse and examining Merlin's head where there had, in fact, been some bleeding.

"I don't know, and Merlin's an idiot" was Arthur's matter-of-fact reply. Arthur then turned on his heel and headed for the door calling back to Gaius excuses about having knights to train and inventories to go through. All true, but entirely used as a device to keep Gaius from getting him to admit what happened and that he might, maybe, may have felt a bit guilty. Or a lot guilty.

***

Merlin awoke to the smell of Gaius' chamber's and the slight discomfort of his hand awkwardly placed on his chest; his wrist, neck, and head specifically, were immediately sore. Before he'd even opened his eyes, Merlin rasped out, "Prat!" He heard Gaius chuckle as he forced apart his tightly glued shut eyelids.

"Is that it then? Arthur claimed that you being an idiot was what caused this injury." Gaius raised his eyebrow as he helped Merlin to a sitting position. Merlin harrumphed disbelievingly and then raised his hand to rub his aching head.

"Don't. You'll upset the bandages," Gaius warned, so Merlin opted to just sit there awkwardly, in pain. Gaius eyed him skeptically, then asked, " So what really happened? You must have done something quite dangerous for the Prince to feel he needed to carry you all the way here himself. It's a good thing he did too. Another twenty minutes and you'd have bled to death."

"Then it's his fault I nearly died! I save his life more times than I can count on my fingers and toes and the arrogant dollophead nearly kills me for annoying him!" Merlin yelled. He looked down at his lap, absently fidgeting with his fingertips. "Does he care about me at all?" Gaius squeezed Merlin's forearm comfortingly. Merlin looked up at him and forced a smile before clearing his throat and looking around the room.

"How long was I out, anyway?"

"About four and a half hours."

_Should be lunch soon_ , Merlin thought.

"May I go?" Merlin asked. Gaius smiled knowingly and nodded, saying, "You should be fine, if a little dizzy."

Merlin walked swiftly to the door, ignoring how the world swirled and swam about.

"Careful of the kitchen stairs, Merlin!" Gaius called after him shaking his head and laughing lightly.

Arthur was lucky.

***

Arthur glanced disdainfully at his temporary manservant and then his food which, he lamented, he had no appetite for at the moment. This was partly because he was worried about Merlin, and partly because Merlin had taken note of Arthur's eating habits and would always make sure his food was kept warm and would then bring it up late. The replacement had been pristinely on time, which displeased the Prince greatly.

Just as Arthur was about to take his first bite, the door burst open and Merlin stumbled in, platter of food in hand, blinking hard a few times before righting himself. Merlin's head was bandaged which made his ears seem to stick out more and his hair stand up in ways that would have been comical if Arthur hadn't been responsible for the injury the bandages were covering.

"I brought your..." Merlin trailed off when he saw the fork poised at Arthur's mouth.

"Leave." Arthur waved away the replacement manservant who was, no doubt, very happy to be done with all the glaring. He slipped away quietly and latched the door behind himself. There was an awkward silence between the two as they both waited for the other to speak, Arthur picking at his food, Merlin fighting to stay standing.

"Join me." Arthur motioned to the chair across from his own. "You might as well eat that now that it's here." Merlin glared at him, but pulled out the chair anyhow, setting down the food. He plopped down in his seat a bit dramatically, causing a few of the small tomatoes to roll off the platter upon contact with the table. Merlin then crossed his spindly arms, hands getting lost in the fabric of his large jacket, and glared down at the wooden table. Arthur didn't say anything at first, content to just watch Merlin uncross his arms and tap his fingers on the table, still glaring. He could never sit still.

Finally Arthur spoke, " I owe you an apology Merlin. It was wrong for me to throw the goblet at you." Arthur didn't want the fear he'd felt that morning to be reflected in his voice. If it was, Merlin didn't seem to notice or care.

"I should say so!" Merlin snapped. He stood up abruptly and began pacing, "There I was, cleaning up after the impressive mess you managed to make of your chambers, and you start complaining about the laziness of your knights. You know, I only told you the truth about how you treat them! I tell you when you're being a prat because you need to hear it if you're going to be a great king some day!" Arthur found himself distracted somewhat from the earnestness of Merlin's rant when Merlin bumped into his chair and wobbled a bit.

"Maybe you should sit back down..." Arthur began, unheard by Merlin who whirled around to face Arthur and had to steady himself on the chair. Arthur flinched, thinking he was going to fall.

"So put me in the stocks for caring, your royal highness!" Merlin breathed heavily through his nose for a minute, staring directly into Arthur's eyes. Arthur felt his heart drop at those words.

Merlin shuffled a bit, not knowing what to do with himself. His head ached and he loved Arthur, the prat, and that ached too. Pretty much everything ached at that moment, even the air between them. Just then Arthur stood up and walked around the table. He stomped up to Merlin and yanked him back down to the chair by his neckerchief.

"Merlin, I don't know how to say the right words to you like you always do for me. I don't know how to tell you that I don't know what I'd do if you died, that my worst nightmares are the dreams you're not in, because if I told you those things, you'd know how much I care." Arthur ran his hand through his hair and then looked away, putting his hands on his hips.

"So you're saying you're sorry for throwing a goblet at my head?" Merlin teased, his heart swelling up and shining so much he could've sworn it shone through his shirt and his, most likely, foolishly wide grin.

"Meerrlin!" Arthur filled the drawn out name with his exasperation. He stood there looking defensive and embarrassed. "It's not funny! I thought I'd broken you!" Merlin's smile slowly straightened and he looked up directly into Arthur's eyes. He stayed silent until Arthur looked back into his eyes. He spoke as sure and steady as a brick wall and his words came from within his ribs instead of his skull.

"Arthur, I know you care. I know you don't say it, but every day you show it, even if you are a prat sometimes. You know..." Merlin paused to scoot a little to the edge of his chair, "You give me the strength to fight for you even when I'm chilled to the marrow, because you're worth more to me than my mind, my heart, and my life." All the blood rushed to his head and he felt dizzy again. He was sure his ears were an embarrassing shade of red. He shut his eyes to stop the spinning.

Arthur felt very, very incapable of speech at that moment. Merlin always surprised him with the amount of... wisdom that seemed to seep into his voice when he was talking seriously to Arthur. Arthur knew he couldn't tell Merlin how he felt, or make quite such a melodramatic speech of it, so he decided to just show him. He brought himself to his knees before Merlin and pressed their foreheads together through Merlin's bandage, cupping Merlin's face in his hands. They both had their eyes closed, just feeling each other.

Merlin felt closer to Arthur right then than he'd ever felt before. He desperately wanted to feel more. To have Arthur feel him more. Merlin carefully turned his head slightly, fitting his upper lip perfectly between Arthur's lips. Arthur responded by gently rubbing his thumbs across Merlin's cheeks, his fingers rough and calloused. Then movement ceased between the two and Merlin could feel Arthur's heartbeat through his chapped lips.

They stayed that way for a while before Merlin smiled, Arthur's lips touching Merlin's teeth for a moment before Arthur stood, rubbing at the back of his neck. He looked towards the fireplace.

"Merlin, make a fire?" he asked hopefully, probably somewhat eager to lose the complete vulnerability the moment had brought. Merlin understood what Arthur was doing and nodded before he got up and walked towards the fireplace, satisfied at having ruffled the Prince. Merlin vaguely registered the breathy laugh that followed his going, and instead of having a goblet thrown at him, there was a soft, "I love you."


End file.
